4. Amount of benefit

Employment and support allowance (ESA) is usually payable after seven ‘waiting days’ (there are temporarily no waiting days for some people due to the coronavirus pandemic; see AskCPAG.org.uk for more information). You are paid a limited amount of ESA during an initial ‘assessment phase’. In most cases, this lasts 13 weeks. After this, you are then paid more in the ‘main phase’ that follows.

ESA is worked out as follows.

In the assessment phase, you get a basic allowance of contributory ESA. The amount of income-related ESA you get depends on your needs (your applicable amount) and how much income you have.

In the main phase, if you are in the support group, you get a support component of £39.40 a week. If you are in the work-related activity group and you claimed before 3 April 2017, you get a work-related activity component of £29.70 a week. If you claimed on or after 3 April 2017, no work-related activity component can be added. For income-related ESA, the component is added to your applicable amount and your income is then subtracted from your applicable amount. For contributory ESA, it is added to the basic allowance.

Contributory employment and support allowance

Weekly rate from April 20211s2 WRA 2007; reg 67(2) and (3) ESA Regs
Assessment phase, basic allowance (under 25)	£59.20
Assessment phase, basic allowance (25 or over)	£74.70
Main phase, basic allowance (16–24 )	£74.70
Main phase, basic allowance (25 or over)	£74.70
Main phase, support component	£39.40
Main phase, work-related activity component (claims before 3 April 2017 only)	£29.70

Contributory ESA is paid for up to a year if you are in the work-related activity group, or indefinitely if you are in the support group.

 

1     s2 WRA 2007; reg 67(2) and (3) ESA Regs »

Income-related employment and support allowance

The amount of income-related ESA you get depends on your circumstances and the circumstances of your partner.1s4 WRA 2007; reg 67(1) and (3) ESA Regs The amount also depends on your income and capital. Go through the following steps to work out the amount of ESA to which you are entitled.

 

1     s4 WRA 2007; reg 67(1) and (3) ESA Regs »

Step one: capital

If your capital is over £16,000, you cannot get income-related ESA (see here). Some kinds of capital are ignored. For details, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook.

Step two: work out your applicable amount

This is an amount for basic weekly needs. It is made up of:1Reg 67 and Sch 4 ESA Regs

•personal allowances (see here);
•premiums (see here);
•a support component or, for claims before 3 April 2017, a work-related activity component (see here);
•housing costs (see here).

 

1     Reg 67 and Sch 4 ESA Regs »

Step three: work out your weekly income

Chapter 17 explains how your loan, grant or other income is taken into account for ESA and how to work out your weekly income.

Step four: deduct weekly income from applicable amount

If your income is less than your applicable amount, your ESA equals the difference between the two.

If your income is the same as or more than your applicable amount, you cannot get ESA. You can claim again if your income decreases – eg, during the long vacation.

Income-related ESA tops up contributory ESA if you are entitled to both and the income-related amount is higher.

Applicable amount

Your applicable amount is worked out by adding together your personal allowances, premiums, the component that applies to you in the main phase and any eligible housing costs. It is usually possible to find out what the new rates will be from the beginning of December. Check the DWP website at gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions for a press release on social security uprating. The rates below are from April 2021.

Personal allowance

Your personal allowance is paid at either the single, lone parent or couple rate depending on your situation. The amount depends on your age and whether you are in the assessment phase or the main phase (see here).

	Assessment phase £	Main phase £
Single
Under 25	59.20	74.70
25 or over	74.70	74.70
Lone parent
Under 18	59.20	74.70
18 or over	74.70	74.70
Couple
Both under 18 (higher rate)	89.45	117.40
Both under 18 (not eligible for higher rate)	59.20	74.70
One under 18, one 18 or over (higher rate)	117.40	117.40
One under 18, one 18–24 (not eligible for higher rate)	59.20	74.70
One under 18, one 25 or over (not eligible for higher rate)	74.70	74.70
Both 18 or over	117.40	117.40

If you are both under 18, you get the higher rate if:

•one of you is responsible for a child; or
•you and your partner would both be eligible to claim income-related ESA if you were single; or
•your partner would qualify for income support (IS) if s/he were single; or
•your partner would qualify for income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) or severe hardship payments of JSA.

If one of you is under 18 and the other is 18 or over, you get the higher rate if the younger partner would:

•qualify for IS or income-related ESA if s/he were single; or
•qualify for income-based JSA or severe hardship payments of JSA.

Premiums

Qualifying for premiums depends on your circumstances. You can qualify for the following.

•Pensioner premium. You or your partner must have reached pension age (see here). If you are in a couple and one of you is over pension age and one of you is under pension age, you get £152.90. In the main phase, these amounts are reduced by the amount of the work-related activity component (if applicable) or support component for which you qualify.
•Carer premium of £37.70. The qualifying conditions are the same as for IS (see here).
•Enhanced disability premium. You qualify for this if you or your partner get the highest rate of the disability living allowance (DLA) care component, the enhanced rate of the daily living component of PIP or if you get the support component of ESA. You get £17.20, or £24.60 if you are a couple.
•Severe disability premium. This is for severely disabled people who live alone, or who can be treated as living alone. You qualify if you get the middle or highest rate of the DLA care component or the daily living component of PIP paid at either rate, and no one gets carer’s allowance for looking after you. You do not get the premium if you live with another person aged 18 or over (eg, a friend or parent), unless s/he is separately liable for rent, you only share a bathroom or hallway, or in some other circumstances. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook for details. If you have a partner, you do not qualify unless your partner also qualifies in her/his own right or is certified as severely sight impaired or blind. If you both qualify, you get two premiums. The rate of the premium is £67.30.

Components

In the main phase (see here), you receive either the support component or, if your claim began before 3 April 2017, the work-related activity component (see here). The work-related activity component is £29.70. The support component is £39.40.

Housing costs

ESA can include help with certain service charges and some other housing payments, after a waiting period. Usually help only starts once you have been getting ESA for 39 weeks, although there are some exceptions to this.

If you own your own home, the DWP may offer you a loan to help with the cost of your mortgage interest payments.

Normally you have to live in the home you own to get a loan, but there are exceptions for full-time students (and some others). You can still get a loan for mortgage interest if you have moved elsewhere to study but are not paying rent or a mortgage at the term-time address. If you pay for both places, you can get a loan for both if you are a couple and it is unavoidable that you live in two separate homes. Otherwise, you can get a loan if you are away from your home temporarily and have not let it out and are not likely to be away for more than 52 weeks.1Sch 3 para 4 LMI Regs Note: these loans are not part of your ESA.

If you have rent to pay, you must usually claim UC (or sometimes HB) for help (see Chapter 11 or Chapter 6). For full details, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook.

 

1     Sch 3 para 4 LMI Regs »